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Originally posted by romerboy:
The only true RPG that can be made today is pen and paper RPGs like Dungeons and dragons and other games like that.

If you want DnD based RPG's you should play Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance I and II on the PlayStation 2. Champions of Norrath and Champions: Return To Arms are also 2 RPG's that I recommend since they are on the same game engine as Dark Alliance, it's just that they're set in the Everquest universe (not Dungeons And Dragons).

FF7 was groundbreaking, that is for sure. It was the first FF for the PlayStation, the first to use three-dimensional graphics, the first with customizable items and the concept of gaining magic and abilities solely from items (you could do that in FF6 for abilities, and permanently learn spells from Espers, but not exactly the same).

It also made limit breaks optional, and often with a variety of different kinds of them. Also, it made big swords and pretty villains super-popular. Isn't it also the first game where a character who dies stays dead? They played at death in FF4 but then they just came back I think. I can't really remember regarding Tellah and twins. In FF6 Shadow can 'sorta' die if you don't wait, but not really, I say he still survived. Leo doesn't count because he's not really a PC, though that was still damn dramatic, I think Aerith borrowed a tad from that.

I still really loved the game, it was the first with the whole genetic and seeking your own fate thing, as well as with sort of an environmentalism feel. FF6 was sort of environmentally, but not really. Not so much stealing power from the planet as simply having evil forces with power destroying it.

XII is an excellent game but XIII is definitely a better RPG

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Originally posted by LordSmoogsbottomIII:

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it still has about the same effect it had then.


This is where I believe you're wrong.

umm...you want to go into a bit more detail? I'm glad people are voicing their opinions, but your statements are a lot stronger when you explain why you feel that way. When I typed that, I meant it more for me personally (hell, I can't speak for everybody), but I guess it's my fault for not being more specific.

Excuse my previous comment. I had, like an idiot, not played FF7 at all. Now that I've started playing it (6 hours into it) I have to say that this is so far the greatest RPG I've ever played. What I didn't realize is that games aren't just gameplay; but story/characters as well, and this is where FF7 shines, and always WILL shine no matter what anyone says.

So please people, stop the hating.. don't be like me. I beat FF9 before FF7, and was expecting a downgrade, but that wasn't the case.

i wouldn't call ff7 the best rpg ever, i think games on the pc such as balders gate 2, are definately more superior. However, it is still a kick arse game. I was the first game on the ps1 that blew me away with the fmv sequences, and it was also very emotive, the musical score being a prime contributer to the feel of the game. I think it has a special place in alot of people's heart's as it was the first rpg they had played and you can't blame them for that. My first rpg that had hooked me was 'link to the past' and it always has a place in my heart for that.

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i wouldn't call ff7 the best rpg ever, i think games on the pc such as balders gate 2, are definately more superior

Oh, nice call on Baldur's Gate 2. Great game. It's got one of the best villains I've seen. Then again, so does FF7

ahh sephiroth... the sword bigger than himself, the hair, the cape, the unexplainable flying, the resounding theme tune. He had it all really.

i would agree that FF7 is the best RPG for its time, in my opinion it doesnt compare to FFX, but when FF7 came out i thought it would be my favorite, i still have a lot of friends that think its the best RPG ever made though

Not my style of gameplay. FFVII is a good game but not "the best rpg ever". Dont ask me to name the "best rpg ever" because my answer will just be disputed by the next guy and his will be disputed by the next guy. SO might as well not start a "this is the best rpg game ever war"

FFVI was better than all of them. I am convinced that no game is able to attain to some artistic level, but FFVI was certainly ambitious. The story was complex and, if better writers worked on the dialog, it might even have been literary.

All other efforts that followed in the FF series were overproduced (save for FFIX) to the point of absurdity.

Well i think it's kinda like comparing star wars to lord of the rings. star wars revolutionized movies and lord of the rings did the same only 20+ years later so FF7 revolutionized rpgs for sure, and paved the way for future ones so as far as that context i think its the most revolutionary rpg ever.

For me it was, I *lived* that game, I don't know why, I don't care why, that game made me feel like i was part of the story more than any other game ever has. (and no it wasn't my first by a longshot)

Still the best RPG I ever played (by it's release day's standards)

My opinion-
FF VII was great. It made the Final Fantasy series mainstream and people actually started to figure out what it was. BUT- it was definitely not revolutionary. Most of what was already done in FF VII was done in a previous Final Fantasy.

Here are some pros-
1. Made the FF series mainstream and gave it a strong player base that wasn't there in the previous FF's.
2. First 3D FF.
3. Graphics were good, IN IT'S TIME!
4. Story that hooked many.

Here are some cons-
1. We now have every 6 year old fanboy who has access to an e-mail and internet access calling himself either Cloud or Sephiroth or some variation of that name.
2. Many people are so stuck up about this game that they refuse to give any other RPG's a fair glance.

Again, this is my opinion. Personally, I like the previous FF's a bit more, 4-6 were some of my favorites. Oh and my favorite FF of all time probably has to be 8. Great story, great music, decent graphics, and characters that I will remember for the rest of RPG'ing days.

FF VII was pretty epic, but I just couldn't get myself to care about Cloud. But even if I did, I still think VI (US: III) blows it away.

In my experience, I have found that which ever FF people play first generally turns out to be their favourite.

You have to be careful wording something like the “best RPG ever” I don’t know if FFVII is the best RPG ever, and my taste for games certainly changes with the seasons, I will say this, it is one of the best RPG’s I have ever played, and I have played every console FF title released along with many other console RPG’s such as; Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger, Star Ocean, Lufia and Suikoden. When it comes to FF’s, it’s hard for me to decide between VII and VI because they are my favourites, the only FF that I didn’t like was XII.

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Originally posted by Bobthespirit:
It gets overrated by a lot of people because it was their first RPG and they look back at it nostalgically.

It also has that Neon Genesis Evangelion style overdramatic substance-lacking character development. That sounds deep because it has all sorts of metaphors and religious symbology, which kind of acts as a smokescreen for the shallowness of the actual characters.

The battle system is also just a bunch of button mashing, which gets overrated by players who like being cottled and having strategy handed to them. And, it has really flashy graphics, which gets a game overrated in and of itself.

The actual plot is pretty much just chasing some guy around the world who wants to destroy the world for no real reason. And they throw in a lot of deep-sounding environmentalist stuff they ripped from Nausicaa. The characters are extremely generic.

I don’t think you can justify a comment like “lacking character development” because it clearly didn’t, the story delved deeply into Clouds past with Tifa, Sephiroth, Zack and Shinra to solve the mystery of his identity crisis. They established history with Shinra for almost all the main characters to justify their hate or reason to rebel. Shinra were a power hungry government that were slowly destroying the world and the demented psycho Sephiroth was the uncontrollable product of their genetic experimentation from cloning an ancient god. The reason for Sephiroth wanting to destroy the planet, which you forgot to mention, was to create a wound so great that the planet would summon all its life force to heal itself which he would then bond with and become a god, giving him the necessary power to travel the universe in search of the Promised Land. I had no issues understanding the story or connecting with its characters.

Anything will sound crap when you sum it down and undermine it, and a demographic of people who you think worships it. If you don’t like the game that’s cool, the characters and story will not appeal to everyone. But if you’re going to discredit it, where do you draw the line to logically define a story that is mediocre and plagiarized from a story that isn’t, because I could take your favourite game, compare it to something else, accuse it of plagiarism, and rip its plot and characters to shreds just as easily as you did.

FFVII was a great game but as was said earlier I couldn't care about Cloud. I did like the cat though.

The best RPG so far is still Arcanum, imo.

FFVII is merely the most overrated RPG.

There were many better rpgs before it, and there have been many better rpgs since. Hell, it's not even the best FF game.

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FFVII is merely the most overrated RPG.

There were many better rpgs before it, and there have been many better rpgs since. Hell, it's not even the best FF game.

ok, you wanna maybe go into detail about that?

Final Fantasy VII is my favorite RPG. I don't think I would call it the best, if only because it has aged and the formula it popularized has been refined by other games and future installments in the series.

Final Fantasy VII's biggest enhancements and innovation came from the storytelling side of the genre. By introducing 3D character-models, pre-rendered backgrounds and an active camera; they were able to make the game feel more epic then the previous generations of Role-Playing games. They were able to make the game feel and look like a movie, while telling a story that was more in-line with the structure of a novel.

In a way, that's why I think it might have been the most important and relevant RPG.. but best, I'm going to have to disagree.

so weird, every time I see RPG I think rocket propelled grenade. Oh, well...

play on